Shipment containers could be the best option for rehabilitation during natural calamities

Homes constructed using shipment containers as core building blocks could be the best option for rehabilitation during natural calamities.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, August 19, 2015 -(PressReleasePoint)- Homes constructed using shipment containers as core building blocks could be the best option for rehabilitation during natural calamities. This was largely agreed upon by participants of a workshop on “Containers for housing and re-urbanization after disasters” held at Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) on Wednesday (August 19, 2015).

The objective of the workshop was to explore and investigate the use of shipping containers to provide modular housing solutions in disaster-prone areas. Scientists from EPFL Lausanne in Switzerland, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Malaysia and IITGN are exploring the use of such containers for housing and re-urbanization in disaster like situations.

Prof Gaurav Srivastava of IITGN said, “Shipping containers are mainly utilized to transport goods through ships. They are typically made of steel and are structurally very strong. These qualities make them sufficiently resistant to natural disasters such as earthquake. While regular reinforced concrete and masonry buildings are prone to failure during earthquakes, container based houses are expected to perform much better in such situations. They are more economical as well.”

Dr Harry Sandberg of EPFL Lausanne said that containers are light enough to be lifted and transported conveniently. He also said that unlike general notion containers do not get much hotter than concrete houses if they are not exposed to direct sunlight by creating a roof over it.

The workshop also discussed at length about cities affected by earthquake and the kinds of measures taken and the loop holes in these measures.